Emergency preparedness and response handbook

Annex 3 : rapid assessment checklist

Annex 3 : rapid assessment checklist

This document is a guideline for the sorts of questions you might wish to ask during a rapid needs assessment.
Rapid assessments should be completed within 72 hours of an emergency happening.
Please fill in as much as you can of this form, but don’t delay sending it until all the data is available. If there are
gaps or information you cannot gather yet, please just explain this and send as much information as you have.

1. Briefly describe the disaster and what has happened.

- What is the disaster (e.g. earthquake, floods, conflict etc.)?
- When did it happen/start?

2. List the areas affected:

Region District Villages affected Are these AA LRPs? Yes/No

- If possible, attach a map highlighting affected areas and ActionAid LRPs

3. Number of people affected

Summarise the results of the data collected from each of the communities sampled (copy this table for each community):

Name of
community
wand district

Total number
of households

Total population

Girls Boys Women Women Men Men Girls

aged aged aged aged aged aged and boys Total
6-14 6 -14 15-45 46+ 15-45 46+ under 5
Total number of
people affected
Specify how these people are affected (add criteria below according to the specific disaster –
the criteria provided are examples)

Eg. Deaths

Eg. Displaced

Eg. Cases of
cholera or other
disease

Eg. Houses
destroyed

Eg. Crops failed

Please describe:
Damage to
infrastructure
(e.g. roads,
bridges, schools
destroyed,
communications
down etc.)
Provide an estimate of the number of people affected in ActionAid’s LRPs, clearly stating what assumptions you have used
to calculate this, including:
• the data from communities where you conducted the rapid assessment
•h
 ow many communities were sampled
•h
 ow many communities are within the affected area
•w
 hat you mean by a household (i.e. how many people are included in one household) and how a household is defined –
e.g. – those cooking on one stove or those living under one roof etc.)

Total number
of communities
(villages) affected

Girls
Girls Boys Women Women Men Men and Are there any people
aged aged aged aged aged aged boys Total with disabilities?
6-14 6 -14 15-45 46+ 15-45 46+ under Please describe briefly
5

Total number of
people affected
Eg. Deaths
Eg. Displaced
Eg. Cases of
cholera
Eg. Houses
destroyed
Eg. Houses
damaged
Eg. Crops failed
cattle, poultry,
goats, died

4. What are the urgent needs identified by the community? Please specify under the following headings, highlighting the specific
issues prioritised by women:

- food
- shelter and non-food items
- health
- protection
- psychosocial support
- water, sanitation and hygiene
- other ( livelihoods etc.)
- seeds for the next sowing.

5. Are there specific impacts on women that you can identify at this stage? What are the specific needs of women
in the communities visited?

6. Who are the most vulnerable groups in this crisis and how are they being affected differently?

7. What is the community already doing to respond in each of the places sampled? What existing community structures
exist that are organising the response (e.g. traditional leadership structures, women’s groups etc.)?
8. What is being done by other agencies in each of the communities sampled (e.g. UN agencies, NGOs, government?)

9. What are the gaps that are not currently being met?

10. Situation forecast: briefly describe how the situation is likely to develop over the next four weeks.
- E.g. forecasts for heavy rain and flooding, upcoming lean food season, projections for spread of disease, risk of conflict or social unrest
- state the basis for this analysis (e.g. weather forecasts, government , NGO, UN data, ActionAid own analysis, community views etc.).

11. Brief description of the rapid assessment process

- date of the assessment
- methodology and sources of information used (including ways you ensured women’s participation)
- name of the person and organisation responsible for the assessment.

AA Country Programme National (Office)

Describe conditions at the ActionAid national offices (tick as appropriate)

_ No damage

_ Minor damage

_ Moderate damage

_ Destroyed

AA Local Rights Programmes Infrastructure (Office)

Describe conditions at the LRP offices (tick as appropriate)

_ No damage

_ Minor damage

_ Moderate damage

_ Destroyed

Human resources

Explain availability at Country Programme national headquarters and LRP levels after the emergency

National level LRP level

Staff

Volunteers

Partners

Other

How long can the country programme fund the emergency response operation?

Hours/days

Week(s)